Bending WaveTechnology
Ondacustica® has created unique world class masterpieces that reproduce sound in the most natural way: the Ondacustica® bending wave CARLA loudspeaker series.
Our bending wave technology is based on the mechanisms of sound creation used by musical instruments. You will experience a real soundstage where music is rendered with ultra high resolution, in a completely seamless way over the entire frequency range. Fine details and sound textures are reproduced naturally and effortlessly.
Music becomes detached from the loudspeaker, boudaries completely disappear, placing the listener in the middle of a real emotional musical event. The stunning natural sound reproduction is achieved through the wide bandwidth core driver and the optimized bass drivers, designed to optimize wide dispersion and provide great dynamics at any audio frequency.
Extended bandwidth core driver
The Ondacustica® bending wave core driver has a continuous bandwidth from 150 Hz to over 30.000 Hz. eliminating the time and phase issues caused by using multiple drivers in that frequency range. Our driver is responsible for the incredible real-life natural sound reproduction that cannot be matched by anything else. It delivers a balanced presentation regardless of musical genre be it classical, jazz, pop or rock. Voices are so real that you will believe a real singer is in front of you.The presentation is fast and dynamic, sound stage is absolutely real, micro-details are astonishing at any volume.
Bending wave principles
Vibration energy applied to a solid structure leads to propagation of waves in different forms. Longitudinal and shear waves apply to isotropic, homogeneous materials: longitudinal wave speed is determined by the bulk /Young modulus and density, transverse wave speed is governed by the shear modulus and is slower. Flexural or bending waves are more complicated than compressional or shear waves and depend on material properties as well as geometric properties. As with pure shear, a bending wave propagates along the beam axis, while deforming the structure transversely. Unlike pure shear, however, a bending wave causes the structure cross sections to rotate about the neutral axis. The speed of a bending wave depends not only on the elastic properties and density of the structural material it travels, but also on the geometric properties of the cross section. Bending waves are also dispersive since different frequencies travel at different speeds; the frequency where the phase velocity on the structure and the phase velocity in the air are the same, is called coincidence or critical frequency (with the highest loss factor); an orthotropic structure has different critical frequencies in each direction.
In order to illustrate the basic principle of a bending wave loudspeaker, the following image is very helpful:
Imagine you throwing a stone into a lake. The water surface receives energy that propagates as waves expanding uniformly.
A bending wave loudspeaker is based on the same principle:
A wavefront is created on a membrane by an actuator (like a stone on the water). This wavefront propagates on the membrane, exactly like the wavefront on the water surface. Due to the changes of air pressure resulting from this wavefront we hear a sound.
Ondacustica® Bending wave loudspeakers
Rather than relying on cone excursion, the Ondacustica® bending wave driver uses it's entire surface in a modal way. The very low mass minimizes stored energy, which typically affects transients and impulse response. The Ondacustica® bending wave loudspeaker is able to reproduce effortlessly the finest details even when part of a complex symphony with huge dynamics, at any volume.
An ordinary bending wave loudspeaker works only as a normal piston loudspeaker below the coincidence frequency.
Ondacustica® bending wave loudspeakers also emits sound by bending waves below it, thanks to a special mass density and the damping characteristics of the sophisticated membrane. Through our patented technologies, we achieve a smooth transition from bending wave emitted sound to a piston emitted sound, which results in a perfect integration.
An Ondacustica® bending wave loudspeaker doesn't only create a controlled bending wave through the intended frequency range, it also damps the negative reflections caused by the boundary conditions (similar to a wavefront reflected on the shore of a lake), using proprietary technologies.
Ondacustica® has created world class unique and dynamic reference loudspeakers which reproduces sound in the most natural and detailed way, using precious materials that will never get out of fashion. An Italian art masterpiece!